Mg Harrison

Networked RFID systems in product recovery management

Product recovery involves collection, sorting and reprocessing of returned products to recover value from them. The management of product recovery is characterised by a high level of uncertainty in product returns flow due to the lack of information associated with such products. A case study exercise carried out at various electronics product recovery industries in Europe supports this widely accepted fact. The recent emergence of networked RFID (radio frequency identification) systems is a means of connecting a product tagged with an RFID chip to a network and thereby carrying complete information associated with it throughout its lifecycle. This paper examines the benefits of information provided by such systems in decision-making during product recovery stages and consequently, in product recovery management as a whole.

Enhanced Supply Chain Tracking Based on the EPC Network: A Bayesian Approach

Abstract Supply chain tracking information is one of the main levers for achieving operational efficiency. RFID technology and the EPC Network can deliver serial-level product information that was never before available. However, these technologies still fail to meet the managers’ visibility requirements in full, since they provide information about product location at specific time instances only. This paper proposes a model that uses the data provided by the EPC Network to deliver enhanced tracking information to the final user. Following a Bayesian approach, the model produces realistic ongoing estimates about the current and future location of products across a supply network, taking into account the characteristics of the product behavior and the configuration of the data collection points. These estimates can then be used to optimize operational decisions that depend on product availability at different locations. The enhancement of tracking information quality is highlighted through an example.

RFID Technology and Applications: Reducing barriers to ID system adoption in the aerospace industry: the aerospace ID technologies program

© Cambridge University Press 2008. Introduction The five years from 2000 saw enormous developments in the way in which technologies such as RFID could be deployed in the consumer goods supply chain as illustrated in the preceding chapter (Ch. 9). While many of these developments were generic, it became increasingly clear that other sectors would need to make substantial adjustments were they to capitalize on the significant cost reductions and standards developments that had occurred. It was for this reason that the Auto ID Labs set up the Aerospace ID Programme. The aim of the programme was To remove barriers to widescale automated ID deployment in the aerospace sector through timely and effective R&D. The barriers to be examined ranged from issues of technical feasibility, via economic viability hurdles, to questions of operational viability – that is, whether solutions could survive a harsh range of operating conditions. These hurdles to be addressed (see Fig. 10.1) served as a sanity check for setting the research directions which are reported in Section 10.5. This chapter tells the story of the Aerospace ID Programme, its formation, its operations, and the results. Background As mentioned above, the background to the Aero ID Programme was the major development in the use of RFID in the consumer goods industry, led by the Auto ID Center and exemplified by the major initiative from Wal-Mart in 2004.